I suppose I could take the BA route, but i will have to pay like a $325 more in taxes. I was able to find a better paid itinerary on United/lufthansa for $440, so the idea of paying 45k miles plus $475 in taxes and fees doesn't make sense.
Did you have to pay extra to get your ticket rebooked to ORD-LHR on BA? Right now, I am considering just using my UA miles to get me to Vienna, which is unfortunate because I want to get rid of my AA miles and abandon the program all together. Their availability to Europe is horrible out of ORD compared to United/Star Alliance.
Originally Posted by
arollins
How about leaving one day earlier? Will that work for you?
Last year I had a similar situation as you, I booked ORD-LHR-WAW, departing Wednesday before thanksgiving. All AA metal flights where canceled and I was accommodated on an earlier flight, connecting via JFK, that meant that I had to leave work early. I asked about leaving Wednesday night via BA or IB but was denied, as the would only accommodate me on AA metal only, in the end, since I was now facing leaving work earlier, I opted on departing Tuesday PM, ORD-LHR, spent 23H:55M in LHR, and then continued LHR-WAW on BA on Thursday. I had to add the hotel stay at LHR, but at least it gave us a mini day trip for us.
AA wont do anything on your MUC-TXL-ORD ticket, since it was booked separately and it was not affected, that is the problem with booking separate tickets. Whatever you decide, you better act quickly as numerous people have been affected by this and they also need to be accommodated as well. The longer you wait, the choices will be limited. As for your PTO, it sucks, but you should at least be able to provide your employer copy of AA emails showing the trip cancellation, it was beyond your control. Maybe your employer is very understanding under the circumstance.
Hopefully for next year, AA will not be scheduling flights on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and eliminate this non-sense. On the same token, flyers should also be aware of previous situations and learn from past experience. I myself booked my Thanksgiving getaway vacation ticket on BA this year, when they had their Business/First fare reductions early in spring. Figure I did not want to deal with this a second time.